Worries over our media

New Zealand-specific data shows that its citizens are highly concerned about the state of journalism: 90% of respondents expressed worries about poor journalism and 95% were concerned about stories that may have a particular agenda.

This is one of the findings in a full academic Article published by Merja Myllylahti (pictured) and Greg Treadwell, of the Auckland University of Technology.

The Article discusses results of  a Trust in News survey, conducted by Horizon Research for the AUT as part of a worldwide project.

The authors comment in their Article:

Based on our findings, it is evident that New Zealanders’ trust in news, in general, is relatively high, and they also have a high level of trust in the news they personally consume.

However, when compared to the 38-country average in the Reuters research, New Zealanders’ trust in news found via search engines and social media is low. When compared to individual countries, including the US and the UK, New Zealanders’ trust is somewhat higher than in these two countries.

Overall findings show that compared to other English-speaking media markets including Australia, the UK, and the US, New Zealanders most trust in news they see or hear on public broadcasting platforms, or state-owned media. The pattern is similar in the other countries mentioned.

However, in the large media markets, financial newspapers are on top of the trusted news brands list as well.

Finally, New Zealanders have a high level of mistrust of the information they read or see on the internet.

Compared to the 38-country average, New Zealanders are clearly more wary of misinformation and disinformation spreading on the net. Additionally, New Zealanders are highly concerned about poor and biased journalism.

Top line results of the follow-up 2021 Trust in News survey show trust contnuing to erode.